Two dead after 100 motorcyclists destroy anti-government barricade in Venezuela

A National Guardsmen and a civilian were killed after more than 100 men on motorcycles rode into a district of Caracas to remove a street barricade erected by anti-government protesters.

The clash
that erupted yesterday in the mixed industrial and residential area of Los
Ruices heightened tensions on the same day the Venezuelan government expelled
foreign diplomats for the second time in a month.

The men on motorcycles carrying pipes and rocks swarmed Los Ruices in the
incident. Some tried to force their way into buildings.

Residents
screamed "murderers, murderers" from rooftops and the motorcyclists
taunted them from below, urging them to come down and fight.

In other
neighbourhoods, motorcyclists dismantled barricades under the whistles and
shouts of residents, but without violence.

Venezuelans
fed up with food shortages and unchecked violence have been staging nearly
daily street protests since mid-February, halting traffic with barricades of
rubbish, furniture and burning tyres.

At least
21 people have been killed in related violence, by the government's count, in
the country's worst unrest in years.

Some
apartment dwellers began banging pots and raining down bottles to express their
anger, he said. In the melee, a 24-year-old motorcycle taxi driver was shot
dead.

"I'm
not going to be irresponsible and accuse anyone," Mr Ocariz said. "I
condemn the violence and the shots must be investigated, but I also reject the
brutal repression" of security forces.

When
National Guardsmen arrived to secure the area, a 25-year-old sergeant was shot
through the neck and killed.

Mr Ocariz
said that according to district police, who report to him, in both cases the
men's wounds seemed to indicate the shots came from above.

Pro-government
motorcyclists who live in slums served as street-level enforcers for the late
president Hugo Chavez and continue to menace opponents of the ruling
socialists. The opposition claims they are bankrolled by the government.

Mr Maduro,
meeting US actor Danny Glover, said on state TV that the dead motorcyclist,
Jose Gregorio Amaris, used his motorcycle as a taxi and was clearing debris in
order to do his job.

He called
those who build street barricades "vandals who hate the people" and
said a second motorcyclist was seriously injured.

Among
opposition demands is that the government disarm the motorcycle-riding
paramilitaries, called "colectivos".

A day
after Mr Maduro said he was breaking diplomatic relations with Panama over its
push for Organisation of American States-sponsored mediation in the crisis, his
government expelled Panama's ambassador and three other diplomats, giving them
48 hours to leave.

Last
month, Venezuela expelled three US diplomats, accusing them of conspiring with
the opposition, a claim that Washington denied.